


Edna Mode Hosts: the WITCHING Hour

by Gray Shadows (the_afterlight)



Category: The Incredibles (2004)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-09 01:57:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8871271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_afterlight/pseuds/Gray%20Shadows
Summary: When the dust has settled and supers are back on the public radar, women in the field need a place to unwind.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Maidenjedi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maidenjedi/gifts).



The speaker at the gate squealed briefly as it turned on. Helen winced, rubbing at one ear as if it would ease the pain as a voice scratched out, "Yes?"

"Helen Parr to see Edna Mode." Helen shifted her weight slightly, feeling her suit tug against her leg as she moved. She wasn't used to wearing it again, especially not under her civvies, although there were still times that it felt like she'd never stopped. "I'm expected."

There was a pause, although Helen could hear murmurs over the speaker. Whoever was on guard duty hadn't bothered to close the connection while they consulted with... whoever they were consulting with. Probably Edna herself, Helen realised. She'd never known anyone _else_ to handle Edna's calendar. Finally, the gate swung open. "Follow the path to the door," the guard explained, "then take the-"

Helen cut her off. "I know the way." She let herself go just elastic enough that there was a literal extra spring in her step, something to give her speed a little boost as she walked up to the door. "I've been here before."

The speaker clicked off, and the gate swung shut behind her. Helen glanced over her shoulder, sighed, and bounced up the walk to the front door.

Helen had barely reached the mansion when the front door swung open, Edna pushing it back dramatically. "Helen, darling, I am so glad you could make it! How are you, how are the kids, how is Bob, how are the suits? Oh, my lovely suits, so last year! I will have something new for you soon."

Biting back a laugh -- Edna truly never did change -- Helen interjected with, "I'm good, the kids are good, Bob's good, and the suits are fantastic. Which you know." She followed along as Edna bustled ahead. "They're not last year. They're barely last week. You can give us a little bit of time before we have to get used to something new."

"Pfft, progress waits for no woman!" Edna proclaimed, grasping Helen's hand and leading her into the workshop. "But! Here, you haven't come because of any of that. You came for _this_."

As the workshop door shut behind them with what might have been, at another time, an alarmingly foreboding thunk, Helen heard her name squealed from across the room at the same moment some faceless -- literally, as they were wearing some kind of feature-concealing mask that Helen could only assume was Edna's design -- servant thrust a wineglass into her free hand just as Edna dropped the other. "Helen!" came the squeal again, as Honey Best jetted across the room -- less literally, as that wasn't in her powerset, although sometimes Helen wondered -- and engulfed Helen in a bearhug. "It's been too long!"

"I saw you three days ago when our men were dealing with cleanup," Helen pointed out. Honey waved this off and gestured to the group; Helen guessed there were twenty-five or thirty people in the room, not counting the servers, and most of them were people she at least recognised, if not actually knew.

"Welcome to the inaugural," and Honey's eyes gleamed as she recited, gesturing to a banner hung above the table, "'Women InTo Collaborative HeroING Hour.'"

Helen eyed the banner, and its dubious capitalisation. "Someone really wanted to call this the WITCHING Hour, didn't they?" she asked.

"Guilty as charged," Honey admitted. "Do you think it's too much?"

A quiet voice, familiar, spoke up just behind Helen's ear. "Personally, I find it a charming." Whirling, Helen struggled to keep from falling into a battle stance.

"... Mirage," she greeted, cautiously, pointedly reminding herself that the one-time villain had helped save them all from Syndrome. "It's... interesting to see you here."

Mirage's smile faded slightly, turning rueful, as she held out one hand. "Please, call me Elena," she insisted. "No codenames here, after all." She glanced at Honey, and Helen followed her gaze; Honey was looking nervously at the two of them, and Helen could feel the slight buzz of static on the back of her neck that she'd learned was a precursor to her long-time friend's use of her powers. "And it was... interesting to be invited," she added, borrowing Helen's inflection with a nod of her head. "I'd like to say that I've turned over a new leaf and that I'm on the side of the White Hats, but I suppose that remains to be seen. Nevertheless, you and yours have nothing to fear from me, and if I have anything to say about it, neither will anyone else." Helen nodded slowly, letting herself visibly relax, and the buzz faded as Honey relaxed, too.

"Are you getting into superheroing, then?" Helen asked, trying to keep her tone casual, as she waved vaguely at the banner. Mirage -- Elena, Helen reminded herself -- nodded.

"Somewhat indirectly, but yes. I've been approached by the National Supers Agency to liaise with former villains. Now that powered activity is likely to be decriminalised, the government would like to welcome them to active duty if they wish it, complete with new, sanctioned identities." Elena shrugged, a subtle rise and fall of one shoulder. "I have some experience, after all, with tracking down supers in their civilian identities. Might as well put it to good use. And I suppose it allows them to keep tabs on the people they consider the highest risk for reoffending." She waved at herself, smiling self-deprecatingly. "Myself included, I imagine. Powers or no powers."

"I heard about that program," Honey interjected. "Kinda worrying, if you ask me. Like they're starting registration all over again. Who knows how long before they try to do it to us? Especially those of us who are just as glad to be out of it. No offense, Helen."

Helen shook her head, waving it off. "None taken. They're just taking volunteers? They're not forcing anyone?"

"Just volunteers," Elena confirmed. "For now, anyway." Her smile widened. "And if they do start trying to... coercively volunteer anyone, hero _or_ former villain, I know exactly who to call." She nodded at Helen, who found herself, somewhat begrudgingly, actually liking the former villain.

"Bob and I definitely have some clout," she allowed, smiling back. "Especially with... let's say, sympathetic media."

"My thoughts exactly." 

"Oh, my god, speaking of media," Honey moaned, flopping down onto one of the overstuffed, incredibly squishy chairs with which Edna had furnished the sitting room. She waved off one of the masked servers as they brought over a tray of wine glasses; Elena grabbed one for herself as they walked by. "I am going to kill that man. Kill him. I don't care if he's my husband, he is a dead man walking."

Helen settled down into one of the chairs, rather more carefully than Honey had. "I'm almost afraid to ask. But only almost: what's he done now?"

"Faked a fever to get out of visiting my mother for her birthday, and then went out fighting crime instead." She rolled her eyes as she looked over at Elena. "Little side effect of his powers," she explained. "When he cools something down, the heat has to go _somewhere_. Caught him on TV while we were eating dinner. Had to come up with some excuse for Mom about why seeing a superhero on the news made me so angry." Honey took the wineglass right out of Elena's hand and downed it in three quick swallows. 

Elena stared for a moment at her now empty hand before sharing a look with Helen, who shrugged and mouthed, 'That's Honey.' Helen grabbed another glass as another server passed and handed it to Elena. "Honey, I love you," she said, "but honestly? If I had a way to avoid dinner with your mother, I would, too. You _have_ met the woman."

"Okay, so she can be a little... forceful. Ain't nothing wrong with that in a woman!"

Helen raised her eyebrow. "She asked me when I was going to divorce my 'good-for-nothing' husband. In front of my husband."

"Fiiiiiiiiine, I won't kill Lucius," Honey allowed. "Am I allowed to make him sweat for a week or two?"

"Oh, absolutely." Elena grinned over her wine glass. "Encouraged, even." 

Helen nodded enthusiastically. "I'll talk to Bob, too," she offered. "See if he can talk to Lucius about, uh, being a little more upfront about what he's doing."

"Thanks, Helen. I appreciate it." Honey grinned at the two other women. "Y'know, I'm glad Edna decided to host this. It's nice to hang out with people who _get_ it. And it's good that you came, Elena."

"I almost didn't," Elena admitted. "But... I'm glad, too. Thank you both for being so welcoming." Her eyes met Helen's, and Helen smiled at her. 

"I'm going to go say hi to Cecelia," Helen told them, standing up from her chair. She hesitated for a moment before adding, "Elena, would you like me to introduce you? She worked as a villain for a while, when we were younger. She may know some people you could reach out to."

Elena blinked slowly, shocked, before nodding. "That would be wonderful, Helen," she replied. "Thank you."

Leading the way across the room, Helen smiled over her shoulder. "Any time," she said, and meant it. Catching sight of the other woman, she cried out with a wave, "Cecelia! It's been too long!"

“Helen!” Cecelia waved back, enthusiastic. “And Helen's friend, hello! I don’t believe we’ve met!”

Helen watched as Elena was swept into Cecelia’s gregarious orbit with barely time to give Helen a startled glance. Smiling, she let herself be drawn in as well, musing that the event may have been appropriately named after all -- there was definitely magic in the air.


End file.
